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The youngest person jailed over the notorious Snowtown killings will walk free after serving a 26-year sentence behind bars.
A decision to release James Vlassakis by South Australia’s Parole Board was upheld by the state’s court of appeal on Tuesday.
Vlassakis pleaded guilty to four of the 11 murders between 1992 and 1999.
He was 18 when he became involved in the killings in 1998 and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 26 years, which expired last August.
He also acted as a key prosecution witness against John Bunting and Robert Wagner, who were found guilty of 11 and 10 murders respectively.
The bodies of eight of their victims were found dismembered in barrels filled with hydrochloric acid inside a disused bank vault in Snowtown, north of Adelaide, in May 1999.
Most were murdered in the outer suburbs of Adelaide, more than 100km away – and just one was killed in Snowtown.
Investigators initially thought the men’s motive was simply to take the welfare payments of their victims, but a more complicated picture gradually emerged.
The court heard Bunting was the ringleader, and that he hated various groups including homosexuals, drug addicts and paedophiles. The murders were “often ritualistic and humiliating” and targeted people connected to the men.
In considering the review in May, the court of appeal had revoked the 25-year-old suppression order that banned publication of Vlassakis’ image and description.
Last December Vlassakis - who is now in his mid-40s - had his parole approval overturned after the state government successfully fought a decision to grant his freedom, with a retired judge describing his crimes as “gross” and “disgustingly unusual”.
The parole board chief, Frances Nelson, had previously said Vlassakis did not represent a risk to the community and would be sent to the Adelaide pre-release centre for up to 12 months to undergo a resocialisation process.
Accomplice Mark Ray Haydon, 66, who was convicted for helping to cover up the crimes, was released on parole in May 2024 to live in the community under strict supervision.
There were 12 victims in the case, but a murder charge over one of the deaths was dropped due to a lack of evidence. Eight of the 11 killed were found in those barrels.
The South Australian attorney general and deputy premier, Kyam Maher, said the case was “traumatic” for the people involved.
“The people that were held by the court most responsible have been given a non-life sentence without the possibility of parole,’ he said.
“There are others who have been released or applied for parole, James Vlassakis, who gave evidence against his co-accused, applied for parole, and it was granted by the parole board.”
Maher said the parole board would soon meet to consider appropriate conditions for release, which could include electronic monitoring, no drugs or alcohol and location limits.
“It is a very difficult thing for those who are still around to remember what happened so well,” he said.
“The gravity and the effect this has had in South Australia, the need for community safety, were always the primary concerns of the state government.
“I will ask for advice if there are further steps but it has already been considered by two different parole review commissioned and the supreme court.”
